The Pillowman - Duke of York's

[mrbarnaby]

Anyone see the first preview?

[Rory]

Jun 11, 2023 15:30:50 GMT mrbarnaby said:

Anyone see the first preview?

It's Monday now

[mkb]

Due to see it tomorrow. Didn't think I'd booked the first preview as I normally try to avoid that, as you can generally expect that to be a bit rough round the edges.

When was it due to start, and what are the reasons for the delay?

[zahidf]

Does any first preview ever start smoothly in the west end or national theatre? It always seems to be cancelled for the first couple.

[Rory]

Had been due to start last night, the 10th. Now Monday 12th. No reason given, probably just could have done with the extra time.

[mrbarnaby]

I didn’t realise that the 10th had been cancelled!

[keyspi]

I have tickets for the 12th August, hopefully they get it up and running by then 😁🤭

[mkb]

Problems with the set on this first preview. First stop after 30 seconds because the room in which the action takes place failed to move to the front of the stage.

Now on another stop because the room failed to retract at the end of the scene.

Could be a long night...

[andrew]

Reader, it was a long a night. Three show stops in total, all related to the set automation failing basically every time it needed to be used. They did fix it and got going but with a half hour of pauses in the first act and the temperature it really got in the way of enjoying the thing, and I noticed a lot of people left. Scene 2 which is mildly complex staging-wise went wrong in several ways also.

However, it’s a first preview so as per tradition I have limited scope to complain about about technical difficulties and ought to shut up about them. I think this will be good, Pemberton is great, Allen is less great, it’s a good script and when it’s working I’d imagine it’ll be an enjoyable night of theatre.

I just struggled a bit tonight, as did the crew it seems.

[mkb]

What a night! Bravo to the cast for getting through this. Curtain call was eventually at 22:51 and was met with a partial ovation and I think much relief all round.

I loved this play when I saw Paul Kerryson's take on it in the Leicester Curve Studio in 2009. That version felt one step removed from reality, which helped with the initial dystopian, Kafka-esque vibe, before there is a gear-change to something even darker. Here, everyone is a lot more naturalistic, as are the sets, and that doesn't quite gel so well.

Paul Kaye is the stand-out performance as bad cop Ariel. He is sensational. Steve Pemberton is good as his partner Tupolski, but I struggled to shake off in my mind all of his brilliant tv characters, both the grotesque and the comic. I would have preferred an actor with whom I was not so familiar.

Lily Allen as the gender-switched Katurian Katurian Katurian does not work for me. I didn't enjoy her acting style in 2:22 and my opinion was not changed. I was too aware of her method rather than the process being transparent. Her speaking style seems to channel Claudia Winkleman, and that's not a good thing.

I am not sure if we saw the full effect of the intended lighting design, or if there were issues. What we had was only rarely inventive/creative, and I think the play needs more. The sound design was similarly lacking.

All of the problems with the set will no doubt be sorted, and the performances will evolve during previews. In spite of my misgivings, writer McDonagh supplies much to enjoy, and enjoy it I did.

Four stars.

Acts 1 & 2: 19:35-19:36, 19:48-20:21, 20:28-20:38, 20:42-21:31 (three stops because of sets failing to move)
Act 3: 21:55-22:51

[lookingatthestars]

Thanks for the initial reviews, I'm still deciding if I will catch it when I'm in London next week. I really like the play and have seen great versions but was worried about the casting of Allen, as I thought she would not be able for Katurian. It seems as if this may be the case, although it's early days. I think Pemberton would be a good fit for McDonagh's work though and now I think of what might have been if the pre pandemic casting of Aaron Taylor Johnson could still somehow have gone ahead. Ah well.

I would be very interested to see how they have staged the dark 'fairytales', the little jesus girl, etc

[harry]

Ouch. This was bad.

Partly due to a lack of momentum from failing set changes (every set change in act 1 caused a show stop including the initial transition into scene 1). But also due to the vacuum that is Lily Allen’s performance at the centre, sucking all the humour and energy from the production.

Never has totalitarian dystopia felt more soporific. Where was the threat? Where was the tension? Where was the release in laughter? The audience sat mainly in stony silence with only the odd line truly getting a laugh. The warnings of “darkly comic depictions of violence” by the doors seemed well wide of the mark.

And without the comedy, the racist, ablist, anti-Semitic language in the mouths of the characters (whom we know we’re meant to find horrific but funny, but aren’t landing the funny) start to feel very very dated. In a kind of “was that really what we thought was funny 20 years ago?” kind of way.

I’m not saying it’s not at least partially salvageable. I think Paul Kaye and Steve Pemberton will settle into the rhythm and find more humour, and the more off-colour stuff will land as comedically outrageous rather than just punching down. And I liked Matthew Tennyson at first as a fresh blast of new energy but my god that scene dragged on and on (to be fair we had been in our seats for over two hours without a break by the end of it!).

The staging of the first of the big story sections is also terrible and confusing but maybe that will be worked on. And I’m sure they’ll iron out the tech issues which may help with the pacing (and I just hope they speed up the whole thing a bit). But there’s no getting away from the fact that Lily Allen is not up to a role of this size or centrality.

A lot of soul-searching and wound-licking from the production team tomorrow I imagine.

[Mark]

I really didn’t rate this. Haven’t seen before but I found Lily Allen to be totally miscast. She was also far too quiet, especially in the first act, and I just didn’t find her believable in any way.
I liked scene two more with the brother, but the whole play just dragged for me with little point or purpose.
No set stops tonight, finished around 22:10

[Rory]

This is disappointing to hear. I must admit that my heart sank when they announced that Lily Allen had taken over the role of Katurian from Aaron Taylor Johnson. It just seemed like a wacky casting decision but I had faith in the creative team which sounds like it may have been misplaced. I'm going at the end of August so hopefully she'll have grown into it by then.

[jm25]

Wow, this was a struggle. Obviously it's exceptionally early into its run so I'm somewhat hesitant to be so critical... but at the same time, there's no hiding from the fact that none of this worked for me.

I get this was supposed to be a black comedy and I usually enjoy that sort of thing. However, I found this to be absolutely humourless. And without the laughs to offset the exceptionally dark subject matter of the stories, it felt relentless in its grimness. I had fully braced myself for A Little Life being my most difficult watch of the year but this blew it out of the water. For all the bleakness in A Little Life, there was a warmth in both the performances and characters' relationship which helped to get through it. But there was absolutely none of that here and the second half in particular felt gratuitous.

I wasn't familiar with the text so didn't realise how much of a focus there was on Katurian (at least in the first half) and unfortunately Lily Allen just didn't give a strong enough performance to carry the role. However, with the possible exception of Steve Pemberton, I wasn't impressed with the majority of the rest of the cast either - especially the chap who played her brother. I didn't buy the performance, I didn't buy the dynamic, and to be honest at times it all felt rather 'GCSE Drama'.

If I had to sum this up in a single word, it would be 'flat'. I went with a friend who is a big fan of the play itself, but he was very unimpressed both with the show at large and Lily Allen's performance in particular. I was quite relieved when it was over. It probably could have finished at the interval and not been any worse off.

Not for me.

[mrbarnaby]

This is so disappointing. This play was extraordinary at the National years ago.

[Mark]

Jun 13, 2023 22:47:20 GMT jm25 said:

It probably could have finished at the interval and not been any worse off.

My friend I took actually thought it was finished when we got to the interval and looked very disappointed when I told her there was another hour to go! The third act was pacier thankfully.

[jm25]

Jun 13, 2023 23:01:26 GMT Mark said:

Jun 13, 2023 22:47:20 GMT jm25 said:

It probably could have finished at the interval and not been any worse off.

My friend I took actually thought it was finished when we got to the interval and looked very disappointed when I told her there was another hour to go! The third act was pacier thankfully.

I just couldn't work out where it had left to go. But yes, it certainly picked up a bit after the interval and felt less claustrophobic too.

[jakobo]

Has anyone received the lottery email today?

[drmaplewood]

Jun 14, 2023 9:24:07 GMT jakobo said:

Has anyone received the lottery email today?

Not yet.

[lookingatthestars]

I used the link in the website for the lottery and i did manage to pick a seat but as I was checking it out I got an internal service error message. I rejoined the q again but still got the same internal service message. So frustrating as I had managed to get a seat at first. But perhaps I have been spared, judging by the early reports here.

[wiggymess]

I just used the link from last week's email. It's not clear, but doesn't seem they are resending it every week unless you sign up every week.

[zahidf]

Got a super cheap ticket for next Sat matinee. Hopefully its in better shape by then

[andrew]

I'm glad others have found Lily Allen as disappointing as I did, I wondered if I was necessarily harsh on her performance, it's always tempting to hate on a celebrity nudging into acting. I hated 2:22 and she was just one cog in that, in this she's the real centrepiece and she just... lacks. Her whole performance is very flat, you don't really build up any sympathy for her, you don't really care about her, she's not that funny.

I wonder what happened behind the scenes that led to her casting, given it was a male in the role previously. Is it that the director had a Covid-related brainwave and suddenly saw Katurian as a female and searched for the perfect vessel for that idea and Lily Allen provided that in an audition? Or is it that when searching about for a new celebrity cast member when Aaron Taylor Johnson dropped out in the reschedule Lily Allen's agent was the most persuasive? She isn't right for the role, her casting was a mistake, and to be honest I think she should find a different avenue for her creative juices than theatre acting.

[andbingowashisname]

Jun 14, 2023 12:38:28 GMT andrew said:

I'm glad others have found Lily Allen as disappointing as I did, I wondered if I was necessarily harsh on her performance, it's always tempting to hate on a celebrity nudging into acting. I hated 2:22 and she was just one cog in that, in this she's the real centrepiece and she just... lacks. Her whole performance is very flat, you don't really build up any sympathy for her, you don't really care about her, she's not that funny.

I wonder what happened behind the scenes that led to her casting, given it was a male in the role previously. Is it that the director had a Covid-related brainwave and suddenly saw Katurian as a female and searched for the perfect vessel for that idea and Lily Allen provided that in an audition? Or is it that when searching about for a new celebrity cast member when Aaron Taylor Johnson dropped out in the reschedule Lily Allen's agent was the most persuasive? She isn't right for the role, her casting was a mistake, and to be honest I think she should find a different avenue for her creative juices than theatre acting.

What's the other common factor connecting Lily Allen with Ghost Story 2:22 and The Pillowman?

Director Matthew Dunster.

I believe it's as simple as that.